Sonas opens €12m Athlone Care Centre
Irish Independent, 22 February 2006
Sonas Healthcare Group has opened a new €12m care centre in Athlone.The new facility is part of the Irish-owned group's €100m investment plan currently being rolled out across the country.
Sonas opens €12m Athlone Care Centre
The Athlone centre is made up of a €7m, 60-bed nursing home, a €2m creche capable of catering for 100 children, and 16 independent living units for the elderly.
According to chief executive Gerry Jordan, Sonas has four more nursing homes in Ennis, Kilkenny, Carlow and Limerick in the planning process.
He also stated that the firm has three further centres at the pre-planning stage.
Mr Jordan said that when Athlone was fully on-stream, Sonas would employ 200 people in its centres, which also include facilities in Sligo and Roscommon.
He added that his firm was also looking at Dublin, but high property prices had prevented it investing there to date.
Sonas is backed by a consortium of private investors who will have invested between €60m and €70m when it opens its four centres currently in the planning.
It is chaired by former investment manager and stockbroker Timothy Murphy.
